Wine may help curb tooth cavities, shows an Italian studies. Even with the alcohol removed, red and white wine may fight bacteria that cause cavities, reports CBS News. But it's too soon to conclude since the tests have been done in a test tube.

The researchers, who work at Italy's University of Pavia, included Gabriella Gazzani, Ph.D.

First, they went to a local grocery store, where they bought some red and some white wine.* Back at their lab, the researchers stripped the wine of alcohol. They did that to prevent ethanol from interfering with their lab tests.

Next, the researchers marinated cavity-causing streptococcal bacteria in the wines. Both types of wine countered those bacteria and other streptococcal bacteria that cause some cases of throat infection.

Red wine might have had more antibacterial properties than white wine, but that wasn't certain, Gazzani's team notes.

The researchers also isolated acids found in red wine and white wine and tested those acids against the same bacteria, called S. mutans and S. pyogenes.

The isolated acids were more effective against the bacteria than the wines. The researchers reason that while wine fights S.mutans and S. pyogenes., Wine also contains compounds that dilute those benefits, to some extent.

The study is quite preliminary. It appears online in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry.

* The article refers to Pinot Nero as the white wine, which is actually also red like the Valpolicella they picked out as the red wine. Perhaps, they picked up some other white – most likely a Pinot Bianco -editor

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